Friday, April 29, 2011

There are many things we hesitate to part with because it seems like they might be useful to someone, someday, somehow. What is one admittedly far-fetched future scenario that you've used to justify holding on to something that you haven't used in years?

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A friend realized he had enough mugs to serve hot cocoa to fifty people, but that not that many people could fit in his house. What is one thing that you are similarly oversupplied with, that you have in far greater quantity than you could conceivably use?

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Phobias are strong, irrational fears, but the most common phobias do have some sense behind them. High places, enclosed spaces, spiders, snakes, monsters (large predators), and being lost and alone were all potentially deadly perils that our ancestors faced. What's one common phobia that you sometimes experience?

Friday, April 15, 2011

Did you ever play a musical recording backwards, just to hear the strange-yet-familiar sounds of the reversed music? Have you started at the end a museum exhibit and walked through it in reverse order? Did you ever try playing the holes of a golf course in reverse?

What is something that you deliberately tried doing backwards, just to see what would happen if you reversed the customary order of things?

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

"As you sow, so shall you reap," says one adage, and the law of karma reminds us that we must face the consequences of our actions, whether immediately or years later.

Did you ever get soaked with your own water balloon? Did your small courtesy turn out to bring a big reward? What is one example of a time when your actions were aimed at someone or something outside yourself, but ended up impacting yourself more than anyone else?

Monday, April 11, 2011

A few times a year, the planet Mercury appears to reverse its course for a few weeks and move backwards across the night sky. The backwards motion is an illusion; Mercury in fact continues steadily forward in its orbit around the sun.

In the same way, our life stories move steadily ahead, but sometimes it feels as though we're moving backwards.

What was one time when you turned around and went back to where you started? Did you move from place A to place B, only to move back to A shortly afterwards? Did you leave company C for a job at company D, only to have C buy D a year later? Did you make a big change in the way you do things, only to find that the first way was better after all?

Saturday, April 9, 2011

What's something good that you recently got more of than you expected? Did you pay for a grande at Starbucks and get a venti? Did your bonus come in for more than your boss told you it would? Did you get a birthday card from someone you haven't heard from in years?

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Surprise is often a tactic used by someone who wants to win by defeating someone else—for example, in battle, in sports, and in sales. What are some people or situations in your own life that prompt you to be wary against possible surprises?

Monday, April 4, 2011

Last month's earthquake and tsunami in Japan is a reminder that major life-changing events sometimes come with no warning at all. These unexpected changes can be good or bad, but we tend to remember the bad ones more vividly.

What was one surprising event from the last few years that directly affected your life?

Friday, April 1, 2011

In the United States, today is April Fool's Day, and the tradition is to see if you can momentarily trick someone into believing a made-up piece of news. The more outlandish the fake news, the better the joke if someone believes it.

Did you ever mistakenly take seriously a website or news story that was meant purely as a joke or parody?

What if someone interviewed you over a period of thousands of hours, asking you every question you could imagine and many you couldn't? Through the course of the interview process, you would gain a keen understanding of yourself. You would end up with a comprehensive portrait of not only your surface thoughts, but also your deeper inner wisdom and insights. You would learn your whole story.

With a question a day, this blog is your interviewer.

We'll ask one new question here every day. Whether you're already on a journey of self-inquiry and transformation, or just starting, or simply want to begin a journal about yourself and your thoughts, your own answers to these questions will help you write the story of you.

There are ten thousand questions, and any one of them could turn your life in a new direction.